[VIDEO] How Do Chiropractic Adjustments Help Headache Pain?

Video Transcript

Dr. Stephen Levine:

We have a great deal of patients that come in and one of their complaints, in addition to maybe neck or back, because we want to know the whole history, they say, "Oh, by the way, I get headaches." So, part of our consultation is we want to qualify and quantify what about the headache. Is it happening in the morning? Is it in the afternoon? Is it before you eat? Is it after you eat? What is the location of the headache? Is it frontal, on the side, is it on top, does it start at the back? And how long does it last?

We get all the information we can, and that's part of our consultation. The fact of the matter is there's over 137 classifications of headaches. The number one and most common headache is called cervicogenic, meaning starting at the cervical spine or the neck. We want to eliminate that first, since that's the most common. Once we do our thermal scan and our physical exam and then take a digital film, we can see if the vertebrae is out of alignment and if the scan shows up hot, so that we can come up with a type of care or treatment to help the patient feel better with headaches. That could be either traditional, hands-on adjusting, or the instrumentation.

So, the machine I have behind me, which is the Sigma Ultralign, has a specific protocol just for headaches. If you can see, we use the handheld instrument and we put on a specialized tip that works in the suboccipital area, or on the base of the skull, and very gently the instrument will relax the muscles, the suboccipital muscles, increase circulation, push the lactic acid out and help us relieve those headache symptoms.

About the Author

Dr. Stephen Levine received his Doctor of Chiropractic Degree from Pennsylvania College. He went on to receive an additional 200 hours of Sports Injury training and is a certified Chiropractic Sports Physician.

Dr. Levine is a diplomate of the American Academy of Pain Management. He is certified to perform manipulation under anesthesia and has served as a member of the medical staff of the 1992 Garden State Games & the 1995,1996 and 1999 New York City marathons. He has also served as team chiropractor for the Seton Hall University Men’s basketball team & other university activities.